Cynthia's Dell laptop is feeble and dying and needs to be put to rest, so I've been keeping an eye out for a replacement for her. Not replacing Cynthia, I mean replacing her laptop. ANYWAY, I spotted a deal on craigslist yesterday for a MacBook Pro that an Iowa student is selling because the WiFi on it started flaking out. It's got an ethernet port, so it can connect to the internet that way until we get the WiFi fixed. Cynthia mostly keeps her laptop on her desk at home and doesn't really carry it around, so a repair may not even be necessary.
I got a hold of the dude who was selling the MacBook and he gave me his address in Iowa City so that I could stop by on my lunch break and check it out (since I work in Iowa City). If you're not familiar with Iowa City, it has a reputation for being kind of a snooty place for being a small town in the middle of Iowa. (Apologies to anyone from Iowa City reading this. If you're cool enough to be reading my blog, then you obviously are immune to the uppity vibe there. ;) It's a town full of pseudo-intellectuals as well as a handful of truly smart people. The signs posted on roads entering Iowa City indicating that nuclear weapons are prohibited by city ordinance give some indication of the ridiculousness you should expect there. Not that I usually bring my nukes to work with me, but the fact that I have to be told not to bring them puts me out.
The address that I drove to turned out to be a large campus of apartment complexes in an area that stood in stark contrast with the rest of the town. Lots of people wandered aimlessly around in the middle of the road glaring at anyone who passed by and Caddys with oversized rims filled the parking lots. Each apartment had its own entrance – sort of like an old motel – and some had broken windows. There were broken bicycles and trash scattered about. There were people everywhere; not going anywhere or doing anything, just standing around watching. It felt like they were all waiting for something, it was very strange. It was very quiet, except for a couple of people a block away yelling at each other and the faint thump of music from an apartment nearby.
After parking the car, I walked along a sidewalk between two buildings as I looked for the apartment number that MacBook Dude had given me. A door swung open and a Muslim woman with a scarf around her head stood in the doorway and looked at me as if I was expected. She closed the door again after I walked by. A guy across the courtyard got up and quickly went inside. If this were a movie, I think this is about the part where the shooting starts.
I ducked around the corner and saw the apartment number I was looking for. Of course, it was almost the very last apartment and on the side of the building facing away from the parking lot. MacBook Dude was friendly, which made him seem out of place. The laptop turned out to be as described and worked fine, so I paid for it and began the scenic trek back. A group of guys standing along the sidewalk stopped talking and all turned and glared as I walked toward the car which made me wonder, Will a MacBook Pro stop bullets? It wouldn't even be a problem if I would have been allowed to bring a nuke with me. Thanks for that, Iowa City.
